Staff sheet printer

ABSTRACT

The purposes of this staff sheet printer ( 100 ) is to translate played acoustic sound into music notes as music staff sheets ( 60 ) by having a plurality of sensors attached on an acoustical musical instrument. Conventionally, a music teacher listens while a musical instrument player plays. To check skill of novice players requires to have well-trained music teachers. Using newly invented staff sheet printer ( 100 ) can check their skills easily since it can print played notes as exactly as players play acoustic musical instruments. Once it prints, the musical instrument players can check visually whether correct keys are played or not, by comparing the output staff sheets ( 60 ) and the original music sheets.

BACKGROUND—CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of patent application Ser.No. 09/866,220 filed May 25, 2001.

BACKGROUND—FIELD OF INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to a music printer that increasesperformance of a musical instrument player.

BACKGROUND—DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

[0003] A musical instrument player often starts taking music lessons asyoung as two or three years old. Giving musical lesson to children arealways fun and exciting events for both children and their parents.However, these lessons require always very diligent, patient, hardworking, and enormous support from their parents and teachers. Hence,over many years there are many devices were invented to give support forthem. However, there is no advanced devices are invented for sometraditional instruments such as Japanese Koto or xylophone musicalinstruments. Continuing and keeping playing traditional skill fromgeneration to next generations is not easy because there is luck ofteachers and luck of teaching aid devices such as this newly inventedprinter. Using this newly invented staff sheet printers, teachers canteach these traditional musical instruments to music players easily.

OBJECTIVE AND ADVANTAGE

[0004] Accordingly, besides the objects and advantages of the staffsheet printer described in this patent, several objects and advantagesof the present invention are:

[0005] (a) to provide the staff sheet printer that can print playednotes which can be compared with original music sheets to see if thereare errors made or not as musical instrument players practices musicalinstruments;

[0006] (b) to provide the staff sheet printer that can improveperformance of the musical instrument players by fine tuning playingskills by measuring notes precisely since this newly invented staffsheet printer can print played notes exactly as it is played by theplayer;

[0007] (c) to provide the staff sheet printer that the musicalinstrument players can save lesson fee and time using this staff sheetprinter since repetitive lesson fees are not required; and

[0008] (d) to provide the staff sheet printer that the musicalinstrument player can make hardcopy duplicates of own music noteseasily.

SUMMARY

[0009] A conventional way to practice music instruments is to simplyplay, and record the playing music by conventional recording devicessuch as tape players and playing the recorded music back. Then a musicalinstrument player can find out where mistakes occur while they listen tothe tape player. Alternatively, a music teacher can listen while themusical instrument player plays. Finding and correcting any errors madeby the musical instrument player depends on the capability of humanears. However, the human ears have limited hearing capability to be ableto listen with high degree of accuracy. Hence, the music teachers or themusical instrument players can not catch all errors by checking therecorded sound or while the music teachers or the musical instrumentplayers listen. This task requires highly trained and skilled musicteacher when a novice musical player plays. Often correcting any errorsmade by them are far more difficult than finding errors made bybeginners. By using this newly invented staff sheet printer, anyinstrument players can find out mistakes by comparing the printout paperprinted and the original music sheets since the played notes are printedexactly as they play. Once all music notes played are stored on thisstaff sheet printer, by pressing a print button on the staff sheetprinter prints played notes onto the paper as the staff sheets. Then,the musical instrument players can compare the difference between theoriginal music sheets and the printed staff sheets visually. Thereby themusical instrument players can improve performance skill in short timebecause they can see mistakes visually instead of listening to sound.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

[0010]FIG. 1 shows the newly invented staff sheet printer how itconnects to musical instruments using an acoustic Japanese Koto and anacoustic xylophone as the example application.

[0011]FIG. 2 shows the functional block diagram of the newly inventedstaff sheet printer for musical instruments using the acoustic musicalinstruments.

[0012]FIG. 3 shows a plurality of musical fonts used to generateprintable bit map for printing staff sheets.

[0013]FIG. 4 shows a plurality of musical fonts used in violin as theexceptional fonts.

[0014]FIG. 5 shows a font used in flute as the exceptional font.

[0015]FIG. 6 shows a staff sheet that has given note with its associatedtempo, and its time signature.

[0016]FIG. 7 shows a flow-chart how to input the numbered parametersshown in FIG. 6 before the music is played.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT—FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,AND 7

[0017]FIG. 1 illustrates a typical connection diagram of a newlyinvented staff sheet printer 100. The staff sheet printer 100 isconnected to the acoustic xylophone 10 and Japanese Koto 20 as thetypical example application. In reality, the staff sheet printer 100 canconnect to any musical instruments by changing the physical shapes andcharacteristics of the sensors 130-1 and 130-2 (FIG. 2).

[0018] Referring to FIG. 2, the staff sheet printer 100 (FIG. 1)consists of following: sensors 130-1 and 130-2, interface modules forsensors 132-1 and 132-2, signal processing modules 134-1 and 134-2, amultiplexer 135 for the signal processing modules 134-1 and 134-2,memory modules RAM 138, memory modules ROM 116, a CPU module 120, aprinter module 136, display module 124, and an operation buttoninterface module 118.

[0019] Referring to FIG. 2, the printer module 136 located inside thestaff sheet printer 100 (FIG. 1) prints played music notes onto a paper60 out of the staff sheet printer 100 as the music staff sheets 60. Thepaper 60 is stored in the staff sheet printer 100 so that the staffsheet printer 100 can print the played music in continues fashion. Theprinter module 136 has controls functions such as out of paper or out oftoner ink, monitoring print engine head, and checking paper jam andother warning messaging system. For example, when out of paper 60 occursin this newly invented staff sheet printer 100 then the warning messageis sent to the display module 124 via the CPU module 120. Hence, a usercan place papers before the user can print. The printer module 136 alsocontrols arrays of pins vertically mounted on a print head, which ittranslates and prints staff sheets based on the printable bit map datain the memory module RAM 138. The print head is standard print head usedin any dot-matrices printers for personal computers. The images arecreated as the each of arrays of pins strikes ink ribbons and leavingdots on the paper 60 according to the printable bit map data created andstored by the CPU module 120. When higher resolution printing isdesired, a laser engine head or a thermal print head can be used toprint images using standard laser beam printing technology.

[0020] Referring to FIG. 2, the signal-processing module 134 receivessignals that are generated by the sensors 130-1 and 132-2. Once thesignal-processing modules 134-1 and 134-2 receive the signals throughthe interface module for musical instrument 132-1 and 132-2, thesignal-processing module 134-1 and 134-2 arrange the signals forpre-printing format. Then, the signal-processing modules 134-1 and 134-2send data to the memory module 138 RAM (random access memory) for laterprocessing. The signal-processing modules 134-1 and 134-2 areanalog-to-digital converters. Since all signals sent by the sensors130-1 and 130-2 are analog signals, they need to be converted intodigital signals using analog-to-digital converters. There are manycommercially IC chips are readily available to implement this function.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 2, the staff sheet printer 100 has functionbuttons to control the functions of this newly invented staff sheetprinter 100. These buttons are a S/E start/enter button 102, a STP stopbutton 104, a R record 106, a P print button 108, a up or down button109 and 110 respectively, and a cursor left or right position button 112and 114 respectively. All of these buttons are interfaced using theoperation button interface modules 118.

[0022] Referring to FIG. 2, the display module 124 is mounted on thestaff sheet printer 100. The purpose of the display module 124 is todisplay responses resulted by the operation of the staff sheet printer100 when the player pushes the buttons located on the staff sheetprinter 100. The display module 124 can display alphanumeric charactersand music notes using standard liquid crystal display (LCD) unit 125.The LCD unit 125 has two-rows by twenty-four columns. The CPU module 120sends the display characters for displaying operational and othermessages whenever messages are sent by active modules such as theprinter module 136. This display module 136 is also used to display andgather the basic information about the music to be played, such as agiven note 121-1 with a tempo 123-1 and its time signature 127-1 of thatmusic depicted in FIG. 6, before the user starts to play. To implementthis commercially available LCD unit 125 is simple since they are usedin almost all electronic equipment that requires human interface betweenmachines and human.

[0023] Referring to FIG. 2, the sensors 130-1 and 130-2 connect to thestaff sheet printer 100 externally. The purpose of the sensors 130-1 and130-2 are to measure how the player plays notes. For each musicalinstrument's input, such as strings, keys, and pads, has a plurality ofthe sensors to measure. The sensors 130-1 and 130-2 comprise ofpiezoelectric or photodiodes or mechanical switches. The sensors candetect vibration, pressure, speed, and distance of each input element ofmusical instruments. By measuring those parameters, the staff sheetprinter 100 can print correct notes on staff sheets according to thetempo 123-1 and time signature 127-1 of that music piece.

[0024] For example, to find out the difference between the quarter notes126-1 and a half note 122-1 used in the music, which has the tempo speedof 100 in FIG. 6, the staff sheet printer 100 needs to know its speed inthe given tempo parameter of the music. By measuring characteristic ofnotes played, the staff sheet printer 100 can figure out whether it is aquarter note or a half note because the length of the quarter note isshorter than the half note. Hence, the staff sheet printer 100 can printcorrect notes on the staff sheets 60 for a given tempo of the musicpiece. To figure out the volume sound of each note, the staff sheetprinter 100 needs to know how fast each note is pressed. All of thesecapabilities are possible by having sensors 130-1 and 130-2 since thesensors keep on monitoring characteristic of musical instruments in realtime mode.

[0025] Referring to FIG. 2, the MUX multiplexer 135 controls the signalprocessing modules 134-1 and 134-2. Since two musical instruments areconnected, the MUX multiplexer 135 instructs each signal-processing unitaccording to the parameters information about the music provided by theplayers and the CPU model 120.

[0026] Referring to FIG. 2, the interface module for sensors A/D 132-1and 132-2 is used to connect very sensitive sensors 130-1 and 130-2 andthe rest of internal modules of the staff sheet printer 100. By thenature of these sensors, the input voltage or current generated by thesesensors is very small, and they cannot be interfaced to standardcomputer circuit directly. Therefore, the staff sheet printer 100requires the interface modules for sensors, 132-1 and 132-2.

[0027] Referring to FIG. 2, the memory module 138 RAM is temporarilymemory space which is used to store dynamic data sent by the signalprocessing modules 134-1 and 134-2, while music is played. It is alsoused to store printable bit map data for printing staff sheets 60.

[0028] Referring to FIG. 2, the memory module ROM 116, it stores twopieces of software. One is the musical note fonts stored permanently andother is operating software. When the staff sheet printer 100 is turnedon, the CPU module reads the operating software from the memory moduleROM 116 first. All of instruction used internally by the staff sheetprinter 100 is stored in this memory module ROM 116 as the operatingsoftware.

[0029] Referring to FIG. 2, the CPU module 120 is used to control all ofmodules in the staff sheet printer. Nowadays, the most of CPU (centralprocessing unit) has built-in graphic processor, generating printablebit map data using fonts and signals generated by signal processingmodule A/D is well within achievable range.

[0030] Referring to FIG. 3, 4, and 5 all of music notations such asquarter, half, whole notes, and all music note fonts are stored in thememory module ROM 116 as the bit map font data structure. Fonts, calledharmonic notes 401, depicted in FIG. 4, used by violin instruments, notused by piano instrument. A font, called Breath Mark 501, depicted inFIG. 5, used in flute, and are not used by certain types of musicalinstruments. Since, fonts can vary depending on types of musicalinstruments played, and they must be stored in the memory module ROM116.

[0031] The CPU module 120 references them to find out correct notesusing the dynamic data stored in the memory module RAM 138 and the fontsstored in the memory module ROM 116 when the converted signals arereceived by the signal-processing modules A/D 134-1 and 134-2. After theCPU module 120 fetches corresponding notes, then it stores in the memorymodule RAM 138, which is later used to built complete printable bit mapdata of staff sheets, in real time mode. The CPU module 120 processesall of the signals until the music player press the STP stop button 104.

[0032] When the P print button 108 is pressed, then the CPU module 120builds the printable bit map data, bit by bit, using the fonts stored inthe memory module ROM 116 and the corresponding music notes stored inthe memory module RAM 138.

[0033] The final data is processed and built by the CPU module 120contains all information including the tempo parameter, the timesignature, the staff sheet lines for treble and the bass clefs, and allnotes played by the player. They are rendered and stored in the memorymodule RAM 138 as the printable bit map data format. In other word, therendered data in the memory module 138 now is the replica of a staffsheet. The memory module RAM 138 can store many pages of data. This dataformat has 600 dots per inch resolution at the minimum. The defaultpaper size 60 is 8.5 inch by 11 inch for US and A4 paper size inEuropean and Asian countries. The margins, line spacing, and otherparameters for printing are pre-programmed since there is no printerdrivers used in general printers such as PCL5e or PCL 6 (Printer ControlLanguage designed by Hewlett-Packard Corp.)

[0034] Once the printable bit map data for staff sheets is built andstored in the memory module RAM 138 completely, then the CPU module 120sends them to the printer module 136. Thereby the printer module 136prints its image line by line. Each page consists of bit patterns,translated and rendered by the CPU module 120, onto plurality of papers60 accordingly.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 7, the flow chart shows the operation of thenewly invented staff sheet printer 100. It shows the method to select amusical instrument type, a given note, its tempo, and its timesignature.

[0036] From the description above, a number of advantages of this newlyinvented staff sheet printer for practicing acoustic musical instrumentssuch as the acoustic Japanese Koto or xylophone become evident:

[0037] (a) No tape recorder is required to record playing music to findout how accurately the musical instrument player is practicing. Allmusic notes played by them are printed as the staff sheets therebyfinding errors can be checked visually very easily.

[0038] (b) Practicing with this newly invented staff sheet printer isthe same as having a music teacher giving lessens to the musicalinstrument players at any time.

[0039] (c) It can improve performance of the musical instrument players;

[0040] (d) The musical instrument players can save lesson fee and timeusing this staff sheet printer since repetitive lesson fees are notrequired; and

[0041] (e) The musical instrument players can make duplicate copy of ownmusic notes easily.

[0042] In reality, the staff sheet printer 100 can connect with anymusical instruments by changing the physical characteristics and shapesof the sensors 130-1 and 130-2 (FIG. 2). For example, vibration sensorscan be used for acoustic string instruments. These sensors convertsstring vibration, created by players who hit strings, to analog signal,and then it is converted to digital data by the signal-processing module134. For acoustic wind instruments such as flute, mechanical sensors canbe attached at underneath of each pad in each musical instrument. Thesesensors work ON or OFF mode, which are the same as binary number systemused in computer system. Hence, it is so easy to translate finger motionto digital signal.

OPERATION—FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, AND 7

[0043] To record the playing of Japanese Koto 10 and xylophone 20 usingthe newly invented staff sheet printer 100 (FIG. 1) is that a musicalinstrument player first needs to select a correct musical instrument foreach sensor. In order to do that, the player first selects a type of themusical instrument by pressing up or down button 109 and 110, and leftor right cursor control button 112 and 114 after R record button 106pressed. The music player also needs to input the time signature 127-1information parameter for the given note 121-1 and its tempo 123-1. Forexample, the portion of the music piece in FIG. 6 has the quarter note121-1 with the speed 100 of the tempo 123-1 and the time signature ofthree quarter 127-1. First, the user selects the quarter note 121-1 bypressing up or down button 109 and 110 respectively. Pressing S/E button102 confirms that the proper note is selected. The user selects thespeed 100 of the tempo 123-1 next by moving the cursor to right bypressing the right arrow button 114 and pressing up or down arrow button109 and 110 respectively. Then finally, the user needs to select thetime signature of 127-1 using the same buttons as before. The player issimply asked to press a S/E button 102 before he/she begins.

[0044] Once the musical instrument player finishes playing the music,the player pushes the STP stop button 104 at any time. At this moment,the music played is converted and stored in a memory module 138 as adigital format. When the musical instrument player pushes a P printbutton 108, the staff sheet printer 100 prints music staff sheets 60with played music notes which it should be identical to original musicsheets if there is no mistakes. However, if there are mistakes, theplayer can find out visually where the player hit wrong notes easily bycomparing the printed staff sheets 60 with the original music sheets.

[0045] Conclusion, Ramifications, and Scope

[0046] Accordingly, the reader will see that the staff sheet printer forpracticing musical instruments can be used as a virtual music teacher.Having this staff sheet printer will save lesson fee that is normallypaid to music teachers. For novice musical instrument player, they cancompose their music easily by using this staff sheet printer on anymusical instruments since all notes played by them is printed as themusic staff sheets. Furthermore, the staff sheet printer has theadditional advantages in that

[0047] a musical instrument player's performance can be improved wellusing this staff sheet printer;

[0048] the musical instrument player can save lesson fee and time usingthis staff sheet printer since repetitive lesson fees are not required;and

[0049] the printed music staff sheets can be duplicated since they areprinted as the hard copy.

[0050] Although the description above contains many specifications,these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention butas merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferredembodiments of this invention. For example, the staff sheet printer canconnect to other musical instrument types by modifying the sensor.

[0051] Thus, the scope of the invention should not be determined by theappended claims and their legal equivalent, rather than by the examplegiven.

I claim:
 5. A staff sheet printer comprising: (a) a plurality of sensorsmeans sensing a plurality of key strokes, vibration, pressure, and othermeans of making sound operated by a plurality of musical instrumentplayers, wherein said sensors consist of electronic photodiode,piezoelectric components, vibration sensors, and switches; (b) aplurality of interface modules for said sensors means having a signalinterface adaptability for different types of said sensors for all typesof the musical instruments, wherein said signal interface adaptabilitymeans be able to connect a plurality of small analog voltage or currentgenerated by said sensors to a plurality of voltage or current used incomputer circuitry; (c) a printer module means receiving a plurality ofprintable bit map data from a plurality of memory module RAM by aplurality of CPU module, and printing said printable bit map data onto aplurality of papers using a plurality of array of pins verticallymounted with one row or several rows on a print head or laser beam printhead or thermal print head, wherein said printable bit map data meansthe data created by using a plurality of font data in a plurality ofmemory module ROM and a plurality of input information generated by saidsensors; (d) a plurality of operation interface module means having aS/E start/enter button, a STP stop button, a R record button, a P printbutton, a up or down button, and a cursor left or right button, for saidstaff sheet printer for setting up a note, a tempo value, and a timesignature of the music pieces, which enables said recording function forthe music notes that is to be recognized correctly, and printing saidprintable bit map data for that played music; (e) a plurality of signalprocessing module A/D means converting said small analog voltage orcurrent signals received from said sensors to a plurality of digitalsignals; (f) a plurality of MUX multiplexer means controlling saidmultiple signal processing modules for said sensors; (g) a plurality ofmemory module RAM means a plurality of temporarily working and storagememory module used by said signal processing modules, said CPU module,said memory module ROM, said printer module, said operation buttoninterface module, and a plurality of display modules; (h) a plurality ofmemory module ROM means storing a plurality of fonts consisting of allmusical notes by all musical instrument types and a plurality of anoperating software for said staff sheet printer, wherein said operatingsoftware means used by said CPU module to control said signal processingmodule, said MUX multiplexer module, said memory module RAM, said memorymodule ROM, said printer module, said display module, and said operationbutton interface module; (i) a plurality of display module meansindicating operational interface between the music players and saidstaff sheet printer, and displaying the tempo and its associated themusic note with the given time signature selected by using said up ordown button, and said cursor left or right button or displaying aplurality of messages generated by said printer module for a pluralityof warning messages, wherein said warning messages are a plurality ofmessages generated by said CPU and said printer module; (j) a pluralityof said CPU module means controlling said signal processing modules,said MUX multiplexer, said memory module RAM, said memory module ROM,said printer module, said display module, and said operation buttonmodule interface module; (k) a plurality of software stored in saidmemory module ROM provides a plurality of instructions to said CPUmodule to monitor difference types of said sensors and any music notesplayed; (l) a plurality of said software stored in said memory moduleROM provides a plurality of instructions to the said CPU module toconvert a plurality of small signal generated by said sensors to aplurality of digital signals, and said converted digital signal is crossreferenced against said fonts stored in said module ROM, wherein saiddigital signals is stored in said RAM; (m) a plurality of said softwarestored in said memory module ROM provides a plurality of instructions tosaid CPU module to build a plurality of the printable bit map data insaid memory module RAM for printing using said fonts and said storeddigital signals; (n) a plurality of said software stored in said memorymodule ROM provides a plurality of instructions to said CPU module togather a plurality of the given music note, a plurality of the tempo,and a plurality of the time signature of the music parameters for anoperation of said staff sheet printer, and said information is stored insaid memory module RAM, wherein said operation means to use said buttonsconnected to said operation button interface module. Furthermore, saidgiven note, said tempo, and said time signature of the music parametersare selected for playing using said buttons on said display module; (o)a plurality of said software stored in said memory module ROM provides aplurality of instructions to said CPU module to control MUX multiplexerto monitor said signal processing modules for different musicalinstruments, and (p) a plurality of said software stored in said memorymodule ROM provides a plurality of instructions to said CPU module toprint a said plurality of printable bit map data to said printer module.6. A staff sheet printer according to claim 5, wherein said fonts havingdifferent music notes for a plurality of different musical instrumenttypes are stored in said memory module ROM, wherein said fonts consistof a plurality of pitches, a plurality of ties, and a plurality ofdotted-notes for a whole note, a half note, a quarter note, an eightnote, a sixteenth note, and a thirty-second note. Furthermore, a trebleclef, a bass clef, a sharp, a flat, a natural, a trill, a forte, arepeat, a turn, a return, a staff sheet lines, a damper a pedal, anunacorda, a crescendo, a diminuendo, a plurality of harmonic notes forviolin, and a breath mark for flute are stored in said ROM.
 7. A staffsheet printer according to claim 5, said printer module means having aplurality of print heads, which are consist of array of pins verticallymounted with several rows or thermal print head or laser beam printhead, having controlled by said print module, wherein said print headsprint said printable bit map data rendered by said CPU module using aplurality of fonts and a plurality of converted digital signals.